


What Can I Do For You?

by Plantzawa



Series: Creative Writing 2021 [3]
Category: No Fandom
Genre: Gen, Homework, Original Character(s), Original Fiction, creative writing, weekly prompt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-31
Updated: 2021-01-31
Packaged: 2021-03-18 12:26:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 557
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29118213
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Plantzawa/pseuds/Plantzawa
Summary: Creative Writing Week 2 Prompt:Your character is driving in a blizzard when their car breaks down. Luckily they see a farmhouse nearby. Unluckily...Write this in scenes as much as possible.
Series: Creative Writing 2021 [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2115255





	What Can I Do For You?

Paul’s knuckles rapped smartly on the smooth, clean farmhouse door. He hoped someone answered soon, the snow was really starting to come down. He rapped again, a bit harder. He was puffing warm breath onto his cold fingers when the door silently opened and he entered without thought.

“I need to use your phone, my car is broken down out there and it’s damn cold.”

A moment later, his brain caught up with his eyes and he froze in his tracks. He was in a big kitchen, full of bright sunlight. Two wide countertops ran down the sides of the room and a large wooden work table took up the center space. A black, old fashioned cast iron stove filled a corner, and pots and pans hung tidily in size order overhead. A jug of very out of season flowers sat cheerfully on the table and a figure stood poised over a mixing bowl, utterly still.

The figure was not a person. 

It was very clearly a robot. Polished metal glistened over its form, blinking lights flashed from a panel on its chest, and the clear dome of its head housed what appeared to be the inside of a super computer in miniature.

Paul’s mouth gaped as he stared. A robot. In a farmhouse kitchen. In the middle of nowhere. Where was the person who opened the door? He spun around as if trying to catch a prankster in the act, but there was no one. 

It was just Paul and the robot.

“Hello?” he called out. He felt very stupid. The robot wasn’t moving and there was no one else in the room. Come to think of it, there hadn’t been any cars outside or tracks in the snow. Maybe he could just flag someone down on the side of the road.

He took a cautious step backwards but froze again as the robot whirred to life, little blinking lights flashing faster as it turned its head in a facsimile of looking at him. It didn’t have eyes.

“Hello, Paul.” The voice that sounded from somewhere inside the figure was almost feminine and not quite electronic. “It seems as though you require assistance. I shall provide you with assistance. What can I do for you?”

Once again Paul gaped at the thing, words failing him.

“What can I do for you?”

Thoughts tangled in Paul’s mind as they raced for his tongue.  _ You’re a robot. How do you know my name? What the hell is going on? I need a tow. Holy shit, you’re a robot that knows my name. _

What he eventually managed was a staggering step back and a single garbled word.

“...Name?”

“My name is Pam. What can I do for you?”

Paul’s fingers slipped over the smooth brass of the doorknob behind him and he grasped it tightly.

“Nothing. I’m fine. Bye.” With a quick twist, Paul turned and bolted out the door, slamming it behind him and racing back through the snow towards his car. 

An all-knowing robot might have been cool back in the city, but one that knew about him in a freaking farmhouse in the middle of the woods was too much to handle. He’d rather sit trembling in his cold car, alone and unknown than try to wrap his head around whatever was going on back there.


End file.
